As per usual, let's keep the thread in the upcoming books room for speculation/waiting/excitement/nerves and start a new discussion here for those who have actually already read the story.
It seems to me there was quite a large number of ARCs and galleys available this time. If you've read Fool's Assassin and want to talk about it, this is your space!

"Green nubs on the dry sticks of the clematis promised that the appearance of death was not death itself."- Ship of Destiny

I woke up this morning, decided to take a sick day at work, purchased my copy on the Nook app and read for about 6 hours straight. I'm only 1/3rd of the way through the book, but oh man. OH MAN!

The people who received ARCs and posted crappy reviews on Goodreads (not many, mind you.. most were 5 star reviews) said things like "nothing happens in this book." I didn't let that deter me at all because:
1. It's Fitz again!!!
2. It's Robin Hobb, she always spends a lot of the 1st book building story, world and characters.
3. IT'S FITZ!

I think the people who wrote those reviews are just crazy. Several BIG things have happened in the first 1/3rd of the book and I have cried so freaking much already. Then again, it might be just because I feel a deeper connection with poor poor Fitz than any other character I've ever read. Remembering all of the hardships he has endured when he mentions Nighteyes in passing (or Burrich, for that matter) just makes me burst in to tears.

AND BEE!!!!!! Bee. I love her. I love her so much. I can't believe Fitz

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” ~Patrick Rothfuss in The Name of the Wind

I am shocked that not a single mention was made by Fitz or Chade about there being new Elderlings in the world. It's almost as if Hobb plans to keep these two 'worlds' separate from each other completely. None of the Bingtown or Rain Wild traders ever made mention of hearing about the Skill-magic of the rulers of the Six Duchies. Did they? Even though there was a tiny mention of a delegation for trade negotiations there from Bingtown, Jamailia AND Kelsingra... not one mention of Elderlings. Surely it would benefit the two groups (Skill users of the Farseer throne + the Elderlings of Kelsingra) to get together and share some knowledge. Surely.

Either way, that was just my slight compliant. Overall I really really love the book. It pulled at my heartstrings so much, especially when the Fool showed up and said he deserved it... I howled. Hobb is taking this in a direction I hadn't really thought of before, but I like it. The thought that the Servants were recording all this information from Whites to possibly do some harm with it, or rule for themselves? I foresee a journey to the Pale Isle (where the Servants who kidnapped Bee will likely take her) by Fitz and Fool. Another journey to an isle to save their kid - last time it was Dutiful - haha.

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” ~Patrick Rothfuss in The Name of the Wind

1. I like how Bee seems to be the child of EVERYONE: Molly, Fitz, Beloved, Nighteyes, and she has all their abilities combined. I wonder about her conversations with Nighteyes, I don't think Nettle or Dutiful could do that.

2. Hobb done pretty terrible stuff to Fitz and the Fool in the previous books, I was very emotional while reading the books, but I never cried. up until this one.

3. I really liked Revel, too bad she killed him off.

4. What this about Lant being such a great guy, that everyone trust, except Fitz? It was mentioned too many time to be insignificant, but Hobb just killed him.

5. Shun must be Chade's daughter. I really dislike her and I hope I won't end up liking her like it was with Malta.

Also, anyone else remembers the day the first messenger and her pursuers came? Molly has fainted just when the pursuers disappeared in the house. I think that is the day she go pregnant, so her pregnancy could have been way longer than she thought.

Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I've been here and it's great to see some of the same ol' names. I finished Fool's Assassin today and had to come to see what everyone is saying, and to add my thoughts.

First things first: When is the next book coming out?? I almost didn't want to start the book, knowing I would have only a few short hours with Fitz and the Fool, before I would once again be stuck waiting for more.

2. Not enough of the Fool. Not nearly enough.

3. Cruel, so cruel, what has happened to the Fool.

4. So many missed opportunities and misunderstandings. Pretty standard for RH...sometimes so infuriating!

5. Ah, but it sure did feel like coming home, to read these characters again. Beloved, I have missed your company...

Got my copy late on Friday, did basically nothing except reading until finishing it on Sunday. Still mulling over everything and not reading a lot of reviews/opinions before I might try to write down my own.

But I just wanted to ask did anyone else notice Bee quoting Kerlew almost verbatim??

"Green nubs on the dry sticks of the clematis promised that the appearance of death was not death itself."- Ship of Destiny

I really loved Bee as a character. Can't understand why Fitz doesn't see she is a White? How can you be so stupid sometimes, Fitzy???

I was shocked to see Lant and Revel killed off so off handedly (? is that a word ?). Was expecting more. Shun - has to be Chade's daughter! Didn't like her, but then I didn't like Malta either until a lot later.

Cried SO MUCH when Molly died. RH really puts you in Fitz's shoes and mind and I felt like I had lost a loved one.

I finished the book a week ago,but it has taken me this long to register with the website. Nonetheless, I absolutely loved this book. I was introduced to the ROTE series last year by my brother after I have been languishing in my wait for the latest ASOIAF book. Since then, the ROTE has replaced by obsession with Planetos. I absolutely love Robin's characters.

And really none is better than Bee. It may be too early to say that she is my favorite literary character, but in half a book she has already climbed to my top 10 at least. It is really just so interesting to be in her head. And she sounds and acts so much like Fitz that it can be hard to tell them apart sometimes. There were times when I was reading and I would forget who the narrator was and then would startle when I saw her saying "my father" because I thought it was Fitz talking. That is not to say that the POVs are identical, because they very much are not. But the voice is similar.

I also did not like Shun and I felt that Lant was not really fleshed out, but I don't think that they are dead. Shun was not dead when we saw her, but was just screaming (I think that she has suffered greatly, including possible rape by one of the Chalcedeans). Lant was down and bleeding profusely, but even Bee does not say he is dead. It is only one of the attackers who says that he is dead. But we know from Royal Assassin and Burrich that sometimes a character will claim someone is dead when they are not. I think that phenomenon will hold here and that Lant will not be dead (although when Fitz finds him alive and his daughter missing he may wish he were).

Finally, I want to comment on a interesting thing I noticed about the POVs. Obviously, the book begins with only Fitz's POV and then introduces Bee after about 200 pages. We see that generally they alternate chapters but towards the end of the book we see that Bee gets sometimes two chapters in a row. I think this plus Bee's dream of the "end of [her] time" and Fitz's stone wolf dragon shows that Fitz will eventually die and Bee will take over as narrator for any Six Duchies related event after this trilogy in the ROTE universe.

(Aug-15-2014, 12:29 PM (UTC))Duhovnii_Snob Wrote: Also, anyone else remembers the day the first messenger and her pursuers came? Molly has fainted just when the pursuers disappeared in the house. I think that is the day she go pregnant, so her pregnancy could have been way longer than she thought.

The first messenger came 3 years before Molly even thought she was pregnant. It may take a long time to gestate a White, but 5-6 years is pushing it. I think it is more likely that Fitz (when he saved the Fool in Fool's Fate) took some of the Fool's "essence" into himself and thus the Fool, Fitz and Molly produced Bee (the "Unexpected Son"). So unexpected that the pursuers do not realize that she is a girl.